Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Part IV: Professional Database Development

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After you save and close the project, users attempting to view the application’s code must enter the

password. Access prompts for the project password only once per session.

A more secure method of securing your application’s code, forms, and reports is to distribute your

database as an .accde file. When you save your database as an .accde file, Access compiles all

code modules (including form modules), removes all editable source code, and compacts the data-

base. The new .accde file contains no source code but continues to work because it contains a

compiled copy of all your code. Not only is this a great way to secure your source code, but it also

enables you to distribute databases that are smaller (because they contain no source code) and

always keep their modules in a compiled state.

Understanding macro security

You’ve probably had experience at some point with a virus attack on your computer. Or most

likely, you know someone who has. It goes without saying that installing and running a virus scan-

ning utility on your workstation, and keeping its virus signatures up to date, are imperative. Even

though you may be very careful about keeping your virus scanner up to date, new viruses crop up

all the time. So, you have to be proactive about protecting your applications and sensitive data

from exposure to these kinds of attacks.

When you run forms, reports, queries, macros, and VBA code in your application, Microsoft

Access uses the Trust Center to determine which commands may be unsafe and which unsafe com-

mands you want to run. From the Trust Center’s perspective, macros and VBA code are “macros”

and shouldn’t be trusted by default. Unsafe commands could allow a malicious user to hack into

your hard drive or other resource in your environment. A malicious user could possibly delete files

from your hard drive, alter the computer’s configuration, or generally create all kinds of havoc in

your workstation or even throughout your network environment.

Each time a form, report, or other object opens, Access checks its list of unsafe commands. By

default, when Access encounters one of the unsafe commands, it blocks the command from execu-

tion. To tell Access to block these potentially unsafe commands, you must enable sandbox mode.

Enabling sandbox mode

Sandbox mode allows Access to block any of the commands in the unsafe list it encounters when

running forms, reports, queries, macros, data access pages, and Visual Basic code:

1. Open Access, click the Microsoft Office button, and select Access Options.

The Access Options dialog box appears.

2. Select the Trust Center tab, and then click Trust Center Settings.

The Trust Center dialog box appears.

3. Select the Macro Settings tab (shown in Figure 26.23).


4. Select either Disable All Macros without Notification or Disable All Macros with
   Notification.